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Generates a large energy barrier in front of Symmetra that blocks enemy fire as it travels forward

Shield Generator (New Ultimate Ability Option)

Symmetra's Ultimate ability now offers a choice between Teleporter and a new option: Shield Generator

Shield Generator places a device that grants additional shields to allies within its effective radius (regardless of barriers, walls, or obstacles between them and the Shield Generator)

Photon Projector (Primary Fire)

Range has been increased from 5 meters to 7 meters

Sentry Turret

Turrets that can be carried have been increased from 3 turrets to 6 turrets

Cooldown has been reduced from 12 seconds to 10 seconds

Photon Shield

Replaced with the new Photon Barrier ability

Teleporter

Health has been decreased from 200 to 50

Shields have been increased from 0 to 350

Developer Comments: We wanted to address two main issues with Symmetra. First, on the whole, we felt that she didn’t feel active enough. Second, due to the nature of her Teleporter, she felt weak in certain situations on different maps and game modes.

To address the first point, we replaced her more passive Photon Shield ability with a much more active ability: Photon Barrier. Now, Symmetra can help lead the charge on offense or help shut down a big push on defense by actively blocking damage for your team.

For the second point, we noticed players would often switch off of Symmetra once they found themselves in a situation where her Teleporter wasn’t as useful. For example, when playing her on defense on an Assault map, players often used her to defend the first capture point, then quickly switched to another hero if that point fell. To help her feel more useful in more situations, we've given her an alternative to her Teleporter. The Shield Generator is just as important for the enemy to deal with, but is useful in more situations.

The turret changes allow her to rebuild her turret nests faster. Even if all her turrets are wiped out, it's now easier for players to build them all back up before the next push.

We’re also increasing the range on her Photon Projector to make it easier for her to build up and keep a powerful charge on her target.

Attacks like Reinhardt's Fire Strike or Hanzo's Dragonstrike that deal damage to both the barrier and the hero within the barrier, no longer deal damage to the barrier twice

Developer Comments: This is a bug fix, but we think it's significant enough to warrant a separate note. We've had a long-standing bug that caused "piercing" damage to hit Zarya's barrier twice. Sometimes this benefited Zarya (for example, jumping in front of Reinhardt's Fire Strike was a good way to generate a large amount of energy quickly), and sometimes it really hurt her (Genji’s Dragonblade, for example, would cut through her shield in one swing, instead of two). This change isn’t intended to buff or a nerf to Zarya. We're simply trying get her abilities working as they should, and we’ll keep an eye on how it affects her balance.